After several days of delibrations, the verdict is in: I will be starting work at Epic Systems in Madison, WI on June 6, 2005. Now I can ramble on about all the stuff I’ve been wanting to journal about, but didn’t really want to since this is public (yeah, I know, nobody ever reads this) and I hadn’t yet made a decision. So if you want to hear all about the search and my deliberations, read on. If you want the short version… it’s just this:

I have a job finally! And I’m really looking forward to it. Busy couple of months ahead! (okay, so that last part will be in another post)

I had heard about Epic systems back in January when Amanda’s co-workers mentioned a cool computer company nearby where they worked. I checked into it and thought it looked really promising. As things worked out, they came to campus for an information session / first-round interview a couple of weeks later. At that interview, I was told I was a “slam dunk” for the next phase: a several-hour programming test. The next week (right before spring break) I got an e-mail saying I could take the test the Friday before Spring Break or the Monday afterwards. I opted for the earlier one so as to get it out of the way and hopefully have an answer as soon as possible.

Since I probably can’t / shouldn’t talk too in-depth about what was on the test, I will say that they told me one part would be a math/logic section, but I couldn’t really prepare for it. I did, however, find some brain teasers on the web and gave myself a thorough brain-scrubbing and practice in some lateral thinking. I think at least half a dozen of the questions on the test were right off of that website! As for the actual programming section, I realized within 10 minutes of handing in my test that I had done the recursive problem all wrong. Nuts! Now I was stressing about that all spring break!

Anyway, in the meantime, before I took the test but after the good first interview, my senior design co-leader asked if I was still looking for a job. Apparently Rockwell Collins in Cedar Rapids was looking for a bunch of new recruits for big projects that were starting this summer. I sent off my resume, and within a couple of days, had heard back that they were interested in bringing me up for a visit/interview day. Another phone call during spring break had me spending my Friday in Cedar Rapids touring the facility and interviewing with half a dozen different people. Pretty nice place with lots of friendly people. As it was a government company, there was a ton of security, but I did rather like that everyone had an ID badge with their pic and name in big letters. For someone like me who is terrible with names, this helped out a ton that day!

The week after spring break: silence.

The next week, I got a call from Rockwell with the manager I interviewed with saying they were impressed with me and wanted to offer me a job, but it had to go through human resources, so it might take a week or two. So Rockwell looked like a real go, but I hadn’t heard back from Epic. So, assuming I had an offer coming from Rockwell, I e-mailed Epic to find out the results of my programming test. I guess communication lines got crossed because the next day I received an invitation to come up to Madison along with, an hour later, an e-mail saying “sorry for the delay, we’ll have an answer within a week.” So I had just jumped the gun I suppose. Anyway, apparently I passed and was scheduled to come up for a visit the following Thursday.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch… I mean Ames, I did get a call from HR at Rockwell saying I needed to fill out and send back an application. I also needed to apply on the website to a listing that had to stay open for 5 days. I figured this was a pretty good deal because I was stretching out the time until I actually received an offer from Rockwell so that I could hear from Epic too.

Last Thursday, I spent the day touring, learning about, and interviewing with Epic. Pretty impressive place. Again, there were a bunch of really friendly people and they all were welcoming. I was told I’d have an answer within a week, but if I needed something more quickly, to just let them know.

Apparently, while I was at Epic, I got THE phone call from Rockwell… at the apartment. I don’t know how they got that number (aside from the ISU phonebook) considering I’ve always called with my cell phone, and my cell phone is what was listed on my resume and my application. Since I wasn’t home until Friday noon, I didn’t end up calling them back until Friday afternoon. Result: one job offer. Sweet!

I waited until Monday (this last Monday) to bug Epic. I told them I did have one offer, but was interested in seeing what they had to say. Tuesday I had my answer: offer two. Awesome! Two main interviews and two job offers… and people were telling me I’d be waiting 6 months before I found a job!

Um…. sooo… now came deliberation. Both jobs were basically the same salary and benefits. And for a long time I was leaning towards Rockwell, mainly to be closer to family. I have definitely been driving Amanda crazy since Tuesday with my going back and forth between offers. But I want to make sure I make the right choice, not just for me, but for both of us and our future family. I do have some more concrete reasons why I eventually chose Epic, but they’re probably more suited to a private entry or “pondering in my heart.” Rockwell was a very good company, and it’s absolutely nothing against them why I chose the other job.

I made the final call(s) this morning around 11. Kinda surprised I didn’t get more of a “welcome” message, but I did hear something about a packet of information I’ll be receiving. I’m also planning to bug them about books or something that could get me started learning about the software they’ll be using. I’ll have two weeks (three if you count finals!) of down time after I graduate that could definitely be put to use learning about what I’ll be doing for the next several years of my life.

Anyway, the decision has finally been made… and I think I’m at peace with it. We can now start planning more definitely for our future, and I can begin contemplating what it will actually be like to not be in school anymore and have a real job! I did just comment to Amanda on the phone that ISU is a REALLY pretty campus. One of the big things I’ll miss about it. But I hear Madison and the surrounding areas are pretty nice too. Exciting things are ahead!